It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Strictly Quilting HQ. That time of year when we all panic to finish those projects that we’ve had all year to complete… “Oh yes, I’ll get stockings made for the two children we have with us this Christmas” I had thought to myself sometime in September and now we are only weeks to go, and they still aren’t even started!
Vlieseline to the rescue! I had raided my stash and found a stocking panel from Lewis and Irene and, by backing in a different fabric, I am able to get two stockings out of it. By quilting the stockings I feel it gives a more professional finish and so I decided to use a sample of the R80 wadding from Vlieseline.
This wadding is ideal for any form of quilting and gives a lighter, puffy effect. 100% recycled PES it is washable at 40 degrees and is very soft to handle. The quilting distance is recommended to be between 15 and 20cm although, for the Christmas stockings, I got away with wider gaps as they won’t have the same use as a quilt. The fabric won’t be put under the same movement strain that a quilt or clothing item would get, so I felt it is safe to quilt slightly less than the recommended distance.
It is beautifully soft and puffy and certainly gave Santa’s beard a 3D effect. It slipped through my machine easily and I didn’t experience any fibre migration. (This is when the fibres from the wadding ‘migrate’ through the top layer.)
Once these two stockings were completed I then decided to make a further two for the children’s Mum and my son’s girlfriend who are also with us. As they are both from other countries, it will be the first time they will have experienced a traditional ‘British’ Christmas so I couldn’t leave them out. I had the remainder of the backing fabric and added embroidered name panels to the stockings.
To do this I took a piece of calico and lightly penciled the design onto it. I added a piece of the R80 wadding onto the back and embroidered the names and design with 2 strands of embroidery thread. Adding the wadding helps hide stray strands of the thread on the back of pale fabric, adds a puffy effect to the embroidery and also makes the name stand out a little on the quilted stocking.
The R80 wadding was certainly perfect for this sort of project. Consider it ideal for bags and for adding as the second layer if you require a high loft wadding for your quilts if free motion quilting. It would certainly give added poof…
Thanks to Vlieseline for the sample of R80 which can be bought from all good retailers. For more information about Vlieseline products visit their website.
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